


It Happens

by orphan_account



Category: Rick and Morty
Genre: Explicit Language, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, POV Outsider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-15
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-10-10 19:59:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17432576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Evan wonders if he is the only one noticing something is wrong with Morty Smith.





	It Happens

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I am a sucker for Outsider POVs, so I decided to write one from one of Morty's teachers' point of view. Hope you enjoy!

Evan is excited for his first day at his new workplace. He has freshly graduated, he is going to be teaching real kids at a real school for the first time. He just hopes he won’t mess up. He has already met some of colleagues during his interview, namely Principal Vagina (he had to try so hard not to laugh) and Goldenfold who teaches Maths. They were alright, nice enough but didn't seem too dedicated. That's something he has been bothered by ever since he himself was in school, because most teacher seemingly just didn't care about students, about their job. Well, he won’t be one of them. He is passionate about Physics and teaching and helping kids and he wants his students to be successful and happy. Call him az idealist, a dreamer, but he isn't about to compromise.

His very first class is with sophomores. He feels awkward, especially after seeing their disinterested expression, but he isn't about to give up so easily. He clears his throat and asks the sixteen students who are present to say a few words about themselves. It goes well, at least most teens are willing to participate, until he reaches the letter S while reading the attendance sheet out loud.

“The next one is Morty Smith.” Nothing.

“Is he absent?” He asks looking around the class. The students turn as one towards the back of the classroom, where he now notices a seemingly asleep figure lying on the desk. He cannot see his face, only the top of his head and his bright yellow T-shirt. He sighs, he definitely doesn't like confrontations, but he has to make sure students respect him.

He gets up and walks to the asleep student, and lightly shakes his shoulder. The boy - Morty, he reminds himself - lunges awake violently, flinching away from his touch and looking around with wide, terrified eyes. For a moment Evan is too shocked to speak and the boy quickly pulls himself together. He blinks up at him, confused.

“A-are you our new t-teacher?” He notes the stutter in his voice, and nods. “Oh, geez, I-I am sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep. Again.”

The teen seems so awkward that Evan doesn't have the heart to reprimand him.

“Just try to stay awake, okay? And it's your turn to introduce yourself.” Morty still seems disoriented and very, very tired, but he manages to nod.

Evan goes back to his table and sits down, looking at the student expectantly.

“Uh, I-i am Morty, but you already k-know that. Oh geez, I don't really know what I am supposed to say… erm… I have a sister who goes here too, her name is Summer, and I really like Physics even though I am too stupid to understand it, and uh, I think that's it.”

“Thank you, Morty. I'm glad you like the subject and I’m sure you are not too stupid, as you put it, to understand it. But if you need extra help, you can ask me any time.”

The class goes smoothly after that, though he catches Morty nodding off from time to time again. He convinces himself he is just like every other teenager and stays up late to do whatever, but he still feels uneasy before going to bed that night as he keeps seeing his student's terrified expression whenever he closes his eyes.

* * *

 He has classes with Morty's group again on Wednesday, but the boy isn't there.

“Does anybody know what happened to Mr. Smith?”

The students just shrug, but one student - Jessica, his mind supplies - looks at him sadly and speaks up.

“He rarely comes to school, Mr. Murphy. Family reasons.”

He nods even though he has no idea what she is referring to, because he doesn't want to intrude or bring the others' attention to Morty's family background, but decides to ask his colleagues about the boy as soon as possible.

He goes to the teachers’ room after the class and finds Goldenfold there. The man is reading but he looks up when Evan shuts the door behind himself and smiles at him kindly.

“How is your week going, Mr Murphy? Had any trouble with the kids?”

“It was fine, though I am quite worried about one student in particular. Mortimer Smith?”

Goldenfold looks away at the mention of the boy's name and he sounds oddly tired when he speaks again.

“Ah, yeah, Morty. You are not the first, neither the last to notice there is something off about him, but we can't do anything. His family isn't cooperative.” Evan frowns. Why isn't CPS already on the case then?

“One of my students mentioned his family too. She said he didn't come to school today because of them. Is there something wrong with them?”

Goldenfold snorts, as if his question amuses him. “That's the understatement of the year, Murphy. Take my advice and leave the Smith family alone, if you don't want to burn yourself.” He turns back to his book and Evan doesn't dare to disturb him after that.

The conversation with the other teacher greatly upsets him. He thinks about Goldenfold's warning words and the awkward, stuttering mass of a teenager that was Morty Smith and knows he won't be able to leave the problem or the boy alone.

* * *

 He meets Summer Smith for the first time the next day and she couldn't be more different from what he expects. He expected a kid like Morty, jumpy, nervous, visibly scared. But she is collected, confident and unbothered. Too collected, if you ask him. She is clicking away at her phone the whole time, even after he explicitly tells her no to. He uses her misbehaviour as an excuse to ask her to stay after class.

“Look, Mr. Murphy, I am sorry for not listening, but it is nothing personal. I do it in every class.” She drawls, a slight smirk at the corner of her mouth. He blinks at her and shakes his head.

“That's not why I told you to stay, though I would appreciate if you could put away your phone in my class. I actually wanted to ask about your brother.” He watches carefully as she frowns, her unbothered facade breaking. She crosses her arms in front of her chest. The message is clear: _I won’t tell._

“What about him?”

“I'm worried about him. He was sleeping in my first class and was absent yesterday. Is he okay?” Summer doesn't look surprised, she just shrugs as she tells him it is typical behaviour of his brother and there is no reason to worry.

He doesn't understand anything. Why are these people so uncaring? What is up with this family? He sighs and dismisses Summer, knowing he won't be able to make her spill more than that. He goes home unsatisfied and wonders if he makes this all up. He kind of hopes so.

* * *

 The next time he sees Morty is on Saturday. He decides to leave the Morty issue alone for the weekend and enjoy his break undisturbed. He goes to Shoney's, the cosy diner just around his block, and orders a burger and a coke. He is about to take a bite when the bell chimes and a middle aged man walks in followed by a woman, his wife, Evan assumes.

He almost turns back to his food when Summer Smith walks in along with Morty who has dark bags under his eyes and an old man, presumably their grandfather. Evan can't help but think that the man looks incredibly weird, there really isn’t a better word for it. He is very tall and thin, he is wearing a immaculate white lab coat, his unruly hair and ridiculous unibrow have a blue tint to them and he has dribble around his mouth. The man's eyes zeroes in on him the moment he steps into the place, and he feels a little scared under his assessing look. Morty also notices him as he is following the old man's gaze and greets him shyly with a wave. His grandfather looks at him at that and frowns, narrowing his eyes at the scene.

“Sit down, Morty, quit standing around.” His voice is gruff and he also has a slight stutter, just like his grandson, but the most disturbing detail is his uncontrollable burping during speaking. Morty obliges without a word and sits down next to his sister, his grandfather sliding in beside him.

Evan watches the family interact, and they look… normal. Not close and loving, but normal. Summer is glued to her phone, only looking up occasionally to make sarcastic remarks about her family's conversation. The father, Jerry, as his wife calls him, is the only one who actually attempts to maintain a steady conversation, his wife is nodding along and laughing when appropriate, but she doesn't look like she is listening. Morty and his grandfather don't participate in the conversation, Morty eats - well, rather picks at - his food silently and the grandfather looks annoyed, drinking from a flask he has in his pocket (an alcoholic? red flag) and rolling his eyes dramatically every time his father-in-law opens his mouth. They look like a normal family, but there's still something off about them that makes Evan slightly nauseous.

“I need to go to the - I-i have to pee, Rick, let me out.” He hears Morty say and he is momentarily confused about who he is addressing until the grandfather stands up, letting Morty out of the booth and murmuring something about Morty's “teeny-tiny” bladder. Who even calls their grandfather by their first name? Maybe he is just a family friend?

“Rick, you shouldn't pick on Morty so much.” Says Jerry disapprovingly, looking at his wife for approval, but she is looking out the window.

“And you shouldn't be unemployed Jerry, or married to my daughter, but w-we can't always have what we want.” Okay, so he is definitely Morty's grandfather. And there is obvious tension between him and Jerry; things like that can be hard on a kid. “I will make sure he doesn't drown himself in there.” He walks to the toilet after Morty and the rest of the family goes back to their conversation as if nothing happened, though Jerry looks butthurt.

An unreasonably long amount of time passes before Morty gets back, with Rick in tow. The boy is a bit disheveled and looks even more tired, but nobody in his family seems to notice or care. They leave the diner not long after, and Evan feels more uneasy than ever before. He has a feeling that Rick is the main reason behind the Morty problem.

* * *

 He notices the bruises two weeks later. Morty’s class is having a test that they have to hand in at the end of the lesson. When Morty comes to his desk, he notices he has a hoody on, that is quite unusual in the warm weather. His sleeve rides up as he hands him the paper and Evan is horrified to see green and purple bruises around his thin wrist. Morty quickly pulls down the sleeve when he notices his staring and hurries back to his seat to pack up and go before Evan has the chance to properly react.

Evan can't believe what he just saw. Is his student abused by his family? He thinks about Morty recoiling from a gentle touch on the shoulder and he thinks about his strangely intimidating grandfather. He needs to talk about this with someone, _now_. He approaches Goldenfold again and is determined to interrogate the man properly this time.

“Mr. Goldenfold, do you know Morty's grandfather?” Goldenfold thinks for a moment.

“I do, but not very well. He is a scientist, the crazy type and he recently moved back to his family. It couldn't be more than three years.”

“Where had he been before that?”

“Nobody knows, but he is a strange ass man if I have ever seen one. It's a shame Morty hangs out with him all the time.”

“He does?”

“Yeah, his grandfather is the one who pulls him out of school regularly.”

“To do what?”

“I have no idea, but we already informed his parents about it back in his freshman year and nothing changed.” 

Evan lets out a heavy sigh. Why does he feel so powerless?

* * *

 He witnesses the strangest thing he has ever seen on Wednesday. He is walking in the halls, navigating between students. He spots Morty talking to Jessica, and he wonders if the two are close friends. All of the sudden, a green portal appears on the wall and Morty's grandfather emerges from it looking slightly crazed. The most shocking thing is that nobody is shocked except for Evan. Rick grabs Morty's arm and pulls him toward the portal.

“I hate t-to break this up, Morty, but I need your help. Come on, M-morty, ten-minute adventure.” He says, ignoring Morty's weak protesting.

“What just happened?” He asks no one in particular after the portal disappears along with Rick and Morty, still trying to wrap his mind around the unbelievable events.

“Morty’s grandfather is a genius, Mr. Murphy. He invents all kind of incredible and impossible stuff.” Jessica says, oddly unimpressed. “He is still an asshole though.”

Evan is amazed. His own scientist side cannot deny his excitement at the prospect of teleportation and he feels respect and awe for Rick. But his teacher side is stronger, and he is terrified by what having an incredibly powerful relative means for Morty's wellbeing. Especially if said relative completely isolates him from his family and friends.

* * *

 Weeks pass after the incident and for Evan's biggest surprise nothing happens. Morty looks better, less tired and more present in class and he doesn't see Rick again. He starts to think he just imagined it all, because he tends to be paranoid and overthinks everything. He decides to forget about everything, maybe Morty just had a hard few weeks, maybe his family is just plain weird, but not harmful.

He is heading home after a long day, walking down the almost empty corridors thinking about what he should eat for dinner when he hears whispering just around the corner. He knows he shouldn't, but he has been always the curious type, so he sneaks closer to the source of the noises.

“W-what are you doing here?” Someone furiously whispers. The voice and the stutter are suspiciously familiar, and Evan realizes Morty is the speaker after a moment.

“What do you think, ha, Morty? I am here to pick you up.” Evan feels somewhat colder when he hears Rick's mocking whisper.

“But you p-promised me not to come here! He is o-onto us, Rick!” Who is _he_?

“Why do you care, M-morty? We can easily get rid of him.” His tone is light and careless as if he is talking about the weather, not a murder.

“B-but I like him. He is a good teacher and he cares about me.” Is Morty talking about Evan? He doesn't know about any other teacher who gives a crap about the kid, except maybe Goldenfold.

“Cares, huh? Do you think he would still care if he knew all about you, Morty? About what you do to Grandpa?” Evan feels dread coming over him as he thinks about the man's words. He pleads he misunderstood him, he prays.

“No, Rick, please, you promised no one would know. Please Rick I will do anything, just don't tell him.” Morty sounds like he is crying and he trips over his own words. Evan wants to hug him and take him far away from that monster of a man, but he feels rooted to his spot.

“Too late.” Rick pulls Morty around the corner and Evan sees Morty pale before him. Tears are freely running down his face now. “Mr. Murphy, right? You thought you would be the hero who helps the poor abused kid? I have news for you, you fucked up the moment you started your little spy shit. You don't fuck with Rick Sanchez. Didn't Goldenfold tell you that?”

Evan is scared out of his mind, but he can't help but open his mouth to ramble. “You are sick. How could you do that to your own grandson? Morty, you have to tell someone, anyone, you don't have to live like that-”

“What am I doing to my grandson? You mean I shouldn't fuck him senseless every chance I get?” Both Evan and Morty flinch. “Come on, Evan, don't be a fucking buzzkill. He likes it, don't you Morty?”

“I d-d-do, Rick.” Morty is staring at the floor, whole frame shaking with quiet sobs.

“You won’t get away with this.”

“The funny thing is I will. I am Rick fucking Sanchez, son.” He pulls a strange looking gun out of his coat and Evan's last thought is that he sure hopes there is a hell for _monsters_ like Rick, before everything goes black and silent.

* * *

 “Hey, Mr. Murphy, are you okay?”

“Yes, I am, sorry. I just zoned out.”

“Are you still worried about Morty Smith?”

“Who?”

Goldenfold sighs. So it has happened again.

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked my story, I would appreciate kudos and/or a comment. Any advice is welcome and don't hesitate to point out mistakes. :)


End file.
